Good Luck Bags

In the Five Weekly Highlights I sometimes mention giving out a Good Luck Bag?  What’s that all about, you might ask?

            Well, when people who come to the Center get a new place to live, we want to celebrate their positive change and support their forward motion.  Since homeless people usually own only what they can carry on their back, they often need everything to get started in a new place.   And I mean everything.

            So, I assemble a bag of whatever things we have around here:  toothpaste and toothbrush, soap, pillow, plate and cup, towels, shampoo, even a pot or pan if one has come my way.  Since we don’t have room to store many donations and don’t want to draw donations away from other bigger agencies, we don’t invite them.  But sometimes people bring things anyway. Occasionally boxes of “stuff” are left on the doorstep.  And if I I’ve got it, I’ll give it away… in a good luck bag.

            People are always grateful.  And they get the point , that we want to encourage them to keep moving forward in life.  One of my favorite sayings around here is this:  “the Homeless Center is a pretty good place to be, but it is a much better place to be from.”